Scimitar of God, by E.S. Strout

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Robert_Moriyama
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Ah, but what if the bioagent excretes a toxin?

Post by Robert_Moriyama »

Consider our old friend the botulinin bacterium. It ain't the bacteria that kill you -- it's the toxin it produces (that eventually paralyzes the muscles you need to breathe, etc.). So let's postulate that the virus replication process produces an extremely lethal neurotoxin as a byproduct, and that in close quarters, even the nanoquantities released by an initial infection would be lethal. If Our Hero has exuded enough of the toxin (and virus-laden air)...

(Okay, I'm not sure that a virus -- a real-world "Replicator" whose only function is to copy itself -- COULD produce a toxin as a byproduct. But it's slightly more plausible than a hyperefficient virus that replicates fast enough to be directly lethal in minutes... I think.)
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Robert_Moriyama
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Depends... (no, not the adult diapers)

Post by Robert_Moriyama »

If the superbug had mostly wiped out the human race, including the Scimatarians, it might have died out or gone dormant after a time. Virus particles can survive on different (non-living) surfaces for varying amounts of time, depending on the virus and the conditions. There might not have been any live virus particles left in Eli's 'bunker' until he uncorked the new hybrid.

'Scuze me, I have to go dig up my copy of "The Hot Zone" to help me deal with questions about viruses jumping between species (sometimes more than once -- viz. avian and swine flus and Ebola and related hemorrhagic viruses, thought to have been confined to apes and monkeys before adapting to humans)...
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Robert_Moriyama
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Post by Robert_Moriyama »

From the Wikipedia article on "Virus":

...Effects on the host cell
The range of structural and biochemical effects that viruses have on the host cell is extensive.[89] These are called cytopathic effects.[90] Most virus infections eventually result in the death of the host cell. The causes of death include cell lysis, alterations to the cell's surface membrane and apoptosis.[91] Often cell death is caused by cessation of its normal activities because of suppression by virus-specific proteins, not all of which are components of the virus particle.[92]...

On this basis, wouldn't it possible for the virus to include "virus-specific proteins" in its replicated package that would be extremely toxic? Or to so seriously disrupt cell function in specific areas (central nervous system?) as to cause rapid death? Just wondering...

RM
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Post by kailhofer »

Bill_Wolfe wrote:And no, just infecting yourself with a virus outdoors won't spread it around the world. Viruses need a host to survive unless they are specially prepared and stored. In the 'wild', they are dead in a matter of days, if not hours. So all Eli did was to kill everyone who showed up.

[snip]

Plus, a virus let loose in the jet stream would die or stay up there till the UV killed them all. It had to be weaponized, somehow. It's not the same physical matrix as someone sneezing on you. The release only infected the first folks. It was spread person-to-person, after that. It's how viruses work.
I am not a doctor, and I don't play one on TV. I didn't even stay in a Holiday Inn Express last night. I have, however, been following this discussion.

Isn't the worry about a virus going 'airborne' the big thing that we hear whenever there's a new epidemic (SARS, H1N1, etc.)? Experts always seem to trot out and talk about the worry that the virus could mutate and become airborne like Bubonic plague becoming Pneumonic plague? (I realize that both are bacterial & not viral.)

Not saying you're wrong, Bill. Just curious.
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